Chapter Text
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There was an unspoken rule in the Ashley-Cooper family—Any form of the arts you enjoy you may practise or consume, with the exception only of the theatre. The theatre, so Mary-Anne had been taught, had brought only ruin upon their family.
But Mary was a young woman now. Twenty years of age. And she would no longer let her father’s unenforced rules or her mother’s nagging bind her. She remembered her childhood days and her uncle who loved the theatre. Of course he had disappeared and both his mother and father had died which was the reason for her father’s dislike of the theatre but Mary was unbothered.
Mary’s friends had urged her to come and watch a play with them, no matter which, and defiant as she was by nature Mary had happily agreed.
She told her parents the bold lie of a visit to Bristol so that she may go to the library there and read to her heart’s content for a weekend.
And now she sat excitedly in a cushioned seat of the Bristol cabaret theatre, waiting for the curtain to rise. To her left and to her right were her friends all dolled up, just like her, in their finest evening dresses.
“What’s this play about again?” Mary whispered to Julie, her oldest and most cherished friend from childhood days. Julie brought out a piece of printed paper that she’d neatly folded into the purse that was hidden underneath her skirt.
“Here. It’s a re-telling of Robin Hood I hear. It’s so popular that folks travelled from London to see it. Today’s the last day they’re playing it here before the troupe moves to another town.”
“Really?” Mary looked at the advertisement her friend had handed her and read what was written on it.
“A fantastic retelling of Robin Hood featuring a thief at high seas and the brave maiden who robbed him of his heart. A tale of love like deja vu. At the Bristol harbour cabaret, to begin at 7 o’clock…” She read the pamphlet out loud in a hushed voice and felt excited. It was only minutes until 7 and the audience had long filled the rows of seats before the stage.
Now that she was waiting for the play to begin the minutes seemed to flow backwards and she bounced her legs impatiently which probably wasn’t very lady-like of her. To waste the last minutes faster, Mary scanned the rows of seats with her eyes to see what manner of Ladies and Lords this play had attracted and that was when she noticed something amiss.
“Julie… Didn’t you say a theatre was filled with neatly dressed Lords and Ladies and that we would get tossed to the street if we didn’t wear our finest dresses?”
“I did, why?” Julie gave her a curious look and Mary pointed at the audience below them.
“Then why, pray tell, are there a bunch of scruffy sailors in this theatre. Are you sure it’s the right place?”
Julie craned her neck to see the audience and Mary watched how her confusion quickly turned to concern, “I swear by my darling’s beard, I’ve only ever seen the type of crowd I described to you… How strange. I’m glad now that we got seats on a balcony, I’d be quite afraid to sit amongst those types.”
Julie shivered to demonstrate her disgust but Mary was more intrigued than anything else. The sailors beneath them all looked about as excited as she felt. There was one with a peg leg who couldn’t stop bouncing his leg in anticipation much like her. He was cute, she thought, large and full of fiery red hair. The suit he wore seemed to barely fit his body and his silken neck scarf was put on without any skill. Mary couldn’t help an amused chuckle and looked at the other men.
There were some who were still quite young—handsome too, but not her type. Her eyes returned to the large red headed man with the peg leg. Of course her father would never approve and her mother would die on the spot from a broken heart if she took a man like this as her husband, but in her eyes he was the cutest of the bunch.
And then she saw a face she hadn’t expected to see ever again in her life. Although he wore his hair in a tie and his skin was tan from years at sea, she would recognize her uncle’s face anywhere. He sat there with a bright smile that was directed towards the man next to him. A shorter man with big eyes and a charming smile who nonchalantly placed his hand on her uncle’s thigh and leaned towards his ear to whisper something that was clearly frivolous.
And Mary watched how her uncle laughed and raised the play’s advert pamphlet to cover their faces while he pressed a brief kiss to the other man’s cheek. She watched them hold each other’s hand and lean shoulder against shoulder and although Mary was young she could see they were in love.
Although it was a shocking sight there was a part of her that felt strangely at peace watching her uncle happily with his lover at a theatre. After all, she’d never learned why he disappeared or to where? She didn’t know why he’d shown up again out of the blue the day her grandfather passed away, and she hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye.
To see him now in a crowd of sailors, laughing brightly and happily in love, it put an end to a worry that Mary didn’t even know she carried with her.
“What are you smiling about? It’s about to start, Mary, focus.” Julie hissed next to her and Mary finally sat back in her comfortable chair and looked at the stage just in time to see the heavy velvet curtains lift. The set was dark, it looked like a storage room with a cage on it and inside was a young man, standing at the cage’s door, trapped. Across him was a young woman in a navy uniform.
Julie gasped, “She’s wearing trousers, Mary!”
“I like it.” Mary said and leaned forwards to get a better look. Anything was better than a corset and a dress with a hundred layers that took half an hour to wear in the morning—Anything. Even a man’s ugly trousers.
“If I unlock this cell for you… you have to take me with you and make me a part of your crew.”
And so the play began.
♚ ♚ ♚
“Julie, Annie, wait for me here, I have something urgent.” Mary said as her friends were already stepping foot into the carriage that was to take them to their hotel.
“At this hour, Mary?” Julie sounded concerned but Mary gave her a confident nod.
“It won’t take long.”
“Alright, we’ll wait here.”
“Thank you!” And with that Mary lifted her skirt just enough to allow her to run on the cobblestone road. She hoped dearly that she wasn’t too late.
“UNCLE! UNCLE WAIT! SEONGHWA!” She shouted at the large group of men that was leaving the theatre laughing and chatting. No one reacted at her shouting for her uncle but ‘Seonghwa’ was a name they all knew well. And suddenly sixty pairs of eyes were on her. Up close the men were far more intimidating than from atop a balcony but Mary swallowed her fear and marched towards them with her head held high.
The crowd parted to let her through with curious looks and in their centre she finally saw whom she was looking for.
“Mary-Anne? What are you doing in Bristol so late at night?” Seonghwa was still just how she remembered. Gentle and soft spoken, but he looked at her as though she was little more than a painful memory to him. Reluctant and eager to get away.
“The theatre, Uncle. I watched the play, same as you.” She announced, trying to keep up her cheerful facade despite the hurtful look her Uncle was giving her.
“Oh… Did you enjoy it?”
“I loved it! If only stories like that were real, Uncle. I can see why father forbade us from visiting the Theatre. It makes me dream of a life at sea, who knows I might also find love like this there? It certainly doesn’t exist on land, not that I have seen.” She joked and Seonghwa actually relaxed a little and laughed.
“I didn’t know you were quite so adventurous, Mary. You used to be so obedient.”
“Well I was young and little, Uncle, I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“You’re still very young. Speaking of which… you’re out very late… Do you need me to escort you to your hotel or inn? Where are you staying the night?”
“Oh, ever the gentleman, I see. You don’t need to worry about me, Uncle. I’ve come with friends and we’ve a carriage right over there you see? They’re waiting.”
“Then… I suggest you don’t make them wait any longer.”
“Ah… I won’t. Uncle… I know uhm… You don’t really like us. Our family. And we were never close… But… It’s good to see you again… It’s good to see you alive and well… although yet again you’ve aged.” Suddenly, and although she tried to joke, Mary’s eyes were overflowing with tears. She blamed it on the romantic play she’d just seen. Seonghwa looked lost the moment she started sobbing but then he hesitantly reached out to her and pulled her into a gentle hug that only made her cry harder.
“I’m sorry… for worrying you. Maybe… one day I’ll come visit. Hm? Would that be alright?”
“Of course you can visit!” Mary almost shouted at him with her face full of big crocodile tears, “It’s your home after all! Bring your darling and… the friend you brought last time. And everyone else. Bring them all. You can visit us. Even if Mother faints and Father scolds me for inviting you, Uncle. Come and visit one day. I’ll let you sleep in my room and you can tell me of all the adventures you’ve had.”
Seonghwa squeezed her in his arms and she could swear that she heard his breath hitch as though he, too, was close to tears.
“I will.”
He opened his arms and let her take a step back to wipe away the tears and she could tell even in the dim light of the street lamps that his eyes were full to the brim with tears as well. He was just acting strong.
Mary took a deep breath and tried to do the same. She was twenty after all. Crying like a child really didn’t suit a young lady like her.
“Uncle there is one more thing. Then I’ll go back.”
“What is it?”
“Come here.” She waved him down to her eye-level and Seonghwa bent down to lend her his ear.
“Does the big lad with the peg leg have a wife? If not… you have to promise to bring him when you visit.” She whispered into his ear and Seonghwa gave her a dumbfounded look.
“You like Eddie?”
“DON’T SAY IT OUT LOUD?!” Mary shouted at him in a panic and covered her face in shame, “Why would you do that?! I take it all back, Uncle you’re no longer welcome at our house!!!!”
And just like that every single one of the sixty-odd men surrounding her was laughing—And Seonghwa’s laugh may have just been the brightest and loudest of them all.
A sound that Mary-Anne had never once heard in her twenty years of life.